Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to consumer maternity products. More particularly, the present invention relates to a shirt and bandeau combination for use by mothers who desire to nurse their children or pump breast milk in a modest yet comfortable and accessible manner.
Related Art
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that babies are often in need of their mother's milk, and that the feeding schedule of babies does not always necessarily coincide with the external scheduling demands of new mothers. As such, babies will often need to breastfeed in public, or in otherwise less than private situations. Additionally, the mother will not necessarily always be with their baby when the lactation begins or the breastmilk otherwise needs to be extracted. As such, mothers often utilize breast pumps in order to extract milk and preserve it for a later feeding of the baby using, for example, a bottle.
Various nursing bras presently available to nursing mothers typically include large panels which can be unclipped allowing the panels to be pulled away, thus exposing the breast and allowing access of the child or a breast pump cone to the exposed breast. Problems arise because outer clothing items, i.e. shirts, blouses, etc., which are suitable for everyday use in public, do not typically allow for easy access to the breasts without substantial inconvenience, often requiring being pulled up from the bottom so as to expose substantial portions of the stomach and shoulders in order to properly gain access to a desired breast, wherein such significant exposure is often not desired, such as in public locations. Some products also involve using large blanket type covers which can cover the mother's torso such that the mother can sufficiently undress under the cover. The problem with such covers is that breastfeeding babies often dislike being covered while awake and feeding and can push the cover away, which exposes the undressed mother's torso, almost completely. Such covers also still require a significant amount of undressing under the cover.
It will be further appreciated that providing more secure and convenient comfort to nursing mothers is a continuing endeavor. The present invention overcomes many of the deficiencies present in the products presently available. Some such advantages will be discussed in more detail below.
Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended though the exemplary embodiments discussed, but the examples are for purposes of illustration of the inventive concepts.